The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of international

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

tournaments held in countries around the world. These Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned events, sponsored by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

, currently host events in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' and '' StarCraft II''. Other game titles were hosted in the past. The body that owns the league is

Turtle Entertainment Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

. The League has operated 16 seasons . The season finals, with the largest prize pool, takes place in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, Poland. Mid-season events are held in numerous cities around the globe, including

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

History

Podczas Intel Extreme Masters (8464381085)

The Intel Extreme Masters are a product of the ESL. In 2006, when the Intel sponsored European tournament saw room for expansion outside of Europe, especially in North American markets, Intel provided funds for a worldwide tournament, billing it as the Intel Extreme Masters. In 2007, when established, the IEM established a format of many smaller qualifying events, leading up to a large final event that is held at

CeBIT CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...

. All of the Grand Finals have been held at CeBIT. Starting in 2008, the Tournament was billed as being worldwide, boasting participants from Europe, North America, and Asia. Although Counterstrike 1.6 was the only game offered in the first season, the variety of games has increased greatly, to the four that were offered during Season 5. World of Warcraft was offered during Season 4, but was dropped for Season 5. The Season 5 Finals will be held at CeBIT and will included a prize pool. Games offered in Intel Extreme Masters: Counter-Strike (Seasons 1–6), Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne (Seasons 1–2, 3: Asian Championship Finals — CS1.6 and Asian Championship Finals — WoW, 4: Global Challenge Chengdu, 5: Global Challenge Shanghai), World of Warcraft (Seasons 2: Global Challenge Dreamhack, 3–4), Quake Live (Seasons 4–5), StarCraft II (Seasons 5–6), League of Legends (LoL) (Seasons 5: World Championship (LoL Invitational), 6)

IEM seasons

Season I

(Finals: 15–18 March 2007 at

2007) *Counter-Strike: Poland's Team Pentagram *Warcraft III: France's Yoan "ToD" Merlo

Season II

(Finals: 6–9 March 2008 at

2008) *Global Challenge Los Angeles: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's

FnaticRC Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

**Warcraft III: Korea's

June "Lyn" Park Park "Lyn" June () is a professional ''Starcraft II'' Terran player and former ''Warcraft III'' Orc player from South Korea. Lyn was a successful ''Warcraft III'' player before transitioning to ''Starcraft II''. He is the only player to have won ...

*World Championship: **Counter-Strike: Germany's

Mousesports Mouz (stylized as MOUZ), formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its '' CS:GO'' team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. M ...

**Warcraft III: Korea's

Season III

(World Championship(Finals): 3–8 March 2009 at

2009) *Global Challenge Games Convention: **World of Warcraft: Germany's Nihilum Plasma *Global Challenge Los Angeles: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's SK Gaming **World of Warcraft: Spain's x6tence *Global Challenge

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's Fnatic **World of Warcraft: the UK's SK Gaming *Global Challenge

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

: **Counter-Strike: Germany's

*Asian Championshiphttp: — WoW: **Counter-Strike: Korea's e-STRO **World of Warcraft: Korea's H O N **WarCraft III: the Netherlands's Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen *European Championship: **Counter-Strike: Denmark's mTw **World of Warcraft: Bulgaria's iNNERFiRE *American Championship: **Counter-Strike: Brazil's Made in Brazil **World of Warcraft: the United States's Trade Chat *Asian Championship: CS1.6: **Counter-Strike: China's wNv Teamwork **WarCraft III: China's

Li "Sky" Xiaofeng Li Xiaofeng (), who also goes by the pseudonym "Sky" or "WE.Sky", is a Chinese former professional gamer of the popular Blizzard Entertainment real-time strategy game '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne''. He played for the China-based World Elit ...

*World Championship: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's fnatic **World of Warcraft: Korea's

H O N H, or h, is the eighth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''aitch'' (pronounced , plural ''aitches''), or region ...

Season IV

(World Championship(Finals): 2–6 March 2010 at

2010) *Global Challenge Gamescom: **Counter-Strike: Germany's

**Quake Live: the United States's Shane "rapha" Hendrixson **World of Warcraft: the United Arab Emirates's Ensidia *Global Challenge

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's SK Gaming **DotA: China's For The Dream (ex-LGD) **Warcraft III: China's

Lu "Fly100%" Weiliang Lu Weiliang (), who also goes by the pseudonym Fly100%, is a Chinese professional esports player of the real-time strategy game '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne''. He previously been a member of Team Hacker, EHOME and Mousesports. He is consi ...

*Global Challenge

: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's Fnatic **Quake Live: the United States's Shane "rapha" Hendrixson *European Championship: **Counter-Strike: Germany's

**Quake Live: Belarus's

Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky Alexey Yanushevsky (Алексе́й Анато́льевич Януше́вский) (born May 17, 1990), who also goes by the pseudonym "Cypher", resides in Minsk, and is a Belarusian professional player of the first person shooter series '' Qu ...

**World of Warcraft: Germany's SK Gaming Sansibar *American Championship: **Counter Strike: the United States's

compLexity Complexity characterises the behaviour of a system or model whose components interaction, interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generall ...

**Quake Live: the United States's Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty **World of Warcraft: the United States's

Black *Asian Championship: **Counter Strike: Korea's

WeMade FOX Wemade Co., Ltd (formerly Wemade Entertainment Co., Ltd) is a South Korean video game developer, based in Seongnam. They are the creators of the Legend of Mir series of MMORPGs, the two most successful being '' The Legend of Mir 2'', and its se ...

**Quake Live: China's Fan "Jibo" Zhibo **World of Warcraft: Korea's

Button Bashers A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

*World Championship: **Counter-Strike: Ukraine's Natus Vincere **Quake Live: the United States's

Shane "rapha" Hendrixson Shane Hendrixson, also known by his pseudonym rapha, is an American professional esports ''Quake Live'', ''Quake III Arena'', '' ShootMania'', ''Overwatch, and Quake Champions'' player for Team Liquid. Since he appeared in 2008, he has won sixt ...

**World of Warcraft: the United States's Evil Geniuses

Season V

(World Championship(Finals): 1–5 March 2011 at

2011) *Global Challenge

: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's fnatic **Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne: Korea's June "Lyn" Park **DotA: China's: EHOME *Global Challenge

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

: **StarCraft II: Sweden's Stefan "MorroW" Andersson —

**Quake Live: Germany's k1llsen *American Championship: **Counter Strike: Brazil's

**Quake Live: the United States's

**StarCraft II: Peru's Jian "Fenix" Morayra Alejo — fnatic *European Championship: **Counter-Strike: Sweden's fnatic **Quake Live: Russia's Anton "Cooller" Singov **StarCraft II: Sweden's Jeffrey "SjoW" Brusi — Team Dignitas *World Championship: **Counter-Strike: Ukraine's Natus Vincere **Quake Live: the United States's

**StarCraft II: Korea's Jung "AcE" Woo-Seo — Team StarTale **LoL Invitational: Germany's myRevenge

Season VI

(World Championship(Finals): 6–10 March 2012 at

2012) *Global Challenge

: **LoL: the United States's

Counter Logic Gaming Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) is an American esports organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in April 2010 by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel as a ''League of Legends'' team, and has sin ...

**StarCraft II: Korea's Lee "PuMa" Ho-Joon — Evil Geniuses *Global Challenge

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

: **LoL: China's

World Elite The World Elite was a villainous professional wrestling alliance in the American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The group consisted of multicultural wrestlers, representing various countries around the world. Created by Canadi ...

**StarCraft II: the United States's Greg "IdrA" Fields — Evil Geniuses **Counter-Strike: Sweden's fnatic *Global Challenge New York City: **LoL: the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

's fnatic **StarCraft II: Korea's Park "DongRaeGu" Soo-Ho — Complexity Gaming & Team MvP **Counter-Strike: Sweden's SK Gaming *Global Challenge

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

: **LoL: Russia's

Moscow 5 Moscow Five is a Russian esports organization founded in 2001. The organization currently has a professional ''League of Legends'' team. On 16 December 2011, Moscow Five created what one could describe as one of the most successful international ...

**StarCraft II: Korea's Moon "MMA" Sung-Won — Team SlayerS **Counter-Strike: Ukraine's Natus Vincere *Global Challenge

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

: **StarCraft II: Korea's Kim "viOLet" Dong-Hwan —

Team Empire A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...

*World Championship: **LoL: Russia's

**StarCraft II: Korea's

Jang "MC" Min-Chul Jang Min-chul (, born June 17, 1991), better known as MC, is a former Korean professional ''StarCraft II'' player, playing as the Protoss faction. MC has accumulated more than $500,000 in tournament winnings, and won the Global StarCraft II Leag ...

— SK Gaming **Counter-Strike: Poland's ESC Gaming

Season VII

*Global Challenge Gamescom: **LoL: Russia's

Moscow Five Moscow Five is a Russian esports organization founded in 2001. The organization currently has a professional ''League of Legends'' team. On 16 December 2011, Moscow Five created what one could describe as one of the most successful international ...

**StarCraft II: Korea's Jung "Mvp" Jong-Hyun — Incredible Miracle *Global Challenge

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

(originally in Guangzhou): **LoL: the European Union's MeetYourMakers **StarCraft II: Korea's Ju "Sting" Hoon —

Western Wolves Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

*Global Challenge

: **LoL: Korea's SK Telecom T1 *Global Challenge

: **LoL: Russia's Gambit Gaming (ex-M5) **StarCraft II: Korea's Kang "First" Hyun-Woo — Incredible Miracle *Global Challenge Brazil: **LoL: Korea's Incredible Miracle *World Championship: **LoL: Korea's CJ Entus Blaze **StarCraft II: Korea's Choi "YoDa" Byung-Hyun — Incredible Miracle

Season VIII

Season IX

Season X

Season XI

Season XII

Season XIII

Season XIV

Season XV

Season XVI

Season XVII

Format

IEM utilizes a fair number of offline qualifiers. During Season 5, qualifiers were held for North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia regions. Those who qualify for the finals are placed into two groups of six, of which the top two advance. The first place member of each group goes directly to the semifinals, and the second and third place members go into the quarterfinals.

Organisation

The Intel Extreme Masters are run by the ESL which is owned by

GmbH.

is based in Cologne, Germany.

Gallery

File:Podczas zawodów IEM (8464354933).jpg, Spectators at IEM 2013 Katowice File:Spectators at IEM Toronto 2014.jpg, Crowd at IEM 2014 Toronto File:Podczas Intel Extreme Masters (8465490574).jpg, Katowice, Poland 2013 File:Podczas zawodów IEM (8465456436).jpg, Katowice, Poland 2013 File:Goście Intel Extreme Masters (8465481816).jpg, Katowice, Poland 2013

References

External links

Official website (English)
{{Intel 2006 establishments in Germany StarCraft II competitions